The Willingness to Risk
by UxE-Absolution
Summary: This story is about Soul, a recently evolved espeon, who has lived in a lab for most of his life. How will he survive out in the world with only stories his mother has told him. He will quickly find out that he is only going to be able to rely on himself and the help of his friends as he tries to find normalcy in his life. It's too bad that everyone around him seems to be insane.


White… That's the only thing about this place. Oh! And that it's filled with crazy people that I am pretty sure they want to dissect me in some way. Normally, another one of those humans in lab coats would have come by now to have me do one of those tests. Sometimes I have to do a series of athletic exercises; however, there are also the times they would bring me to another room that was empty other than an uncomfortable bed and a table with very frightening and sharp items on it.

They would inject me with who knows what and then take my blood. After they're finished, they'd bring me back here to this room that I've grown so accustomed to. I would lie down on the floor and face the pure white wall. Occasionally, I would grow tired of sitting so I would stand and look at the floor which has been polished to the point that it mirrors a reflection of me.

My own sad brown eyes would stare back, I looked like how any other normal eevee would other than my fur being a little untidy. I really hated this place and it was difficult to keep what little sanity I had left. My only reason left anymore is to be with my sister and mother, oh yeah and to get the hell out of here. I would have said father too, but I haven't a clue where he is. Whenever I ask mom she always breaks down crying

I am luckier than most though, I get to see my family once a month. It has been a while since I've seen them so hopefully I'll get to do so soon. My twin sister, Sera, is just like me and mother is an espeon. The scientists referred to me as X-013 and Sera as X-012. Mother always teaches us a bunch of different things that she says will help us through our life. She says the reason she is teaching us is because when we get out to the real world, she doesn't want to be the mother of two buffoons. I have always enjoyed every moment with her, regardless.

*Click

I faced the door with wide eyes at the sound of it being unlocked. I've been through this countless times, but I am frightened to death every time. The door creaked open revealing a young slim woman with pale complexion and long black hair that hid most of her kind face wearing one of those labcoats and a small cage in one hand that was clearly there to carry me in. She had a look of determination in her eyes, I'm honestly not sure whether I should be more or less afraid.

When she started towards me, I instantly backed up to the wall. As she got just a few feet away from me, I couldn't help but try backing up farther. Sadly with a wall directly behind me, I ended up with two of my paws on the floor while the other two were on the wall. I hid my face with my tail, in a position that probably would have been humorous, if not for my extreme distress.

I heard a clank and when I looked to the human I saw her on her knees with her hair covering her face completely and head drooping low. Confused, I uncurled myself and faced her. "I do not deserve your forgiveness nor do I think there will ever be a day that I could even begin to forgive myself," her voice cracked, "but I know that you don't deserve to live in this arceus-forsaken place. Even if it kills me I, Alicia Fyrena, will see to it that you get outside and be free." She said in a soft voice

"Who is this human?" I thought to myself. I've never seen her before and I don't know what she did to me that was so horrible that she can't forgive herself. Why is she even telling me all this anyway, and what is her reason for coming here.

She then brought her head up, tears filled her eyes and she was evidently sincere. "I have been planning this for months and our chance has finally come. If you'll allow me, I will take you to your family and then away from this hellhole."

I couldn't help but smile a little. "Well… that was convenient." I walked up to her and nodded. Alicia smiled back and wiped her tears away as I went into the cage of my own accord (for once). After she closed the cage door, she left the room out into the hallway. Just like my room, everything visible was white. As she took off she walked at a speed that you could've confused her for running.

Alicia made many turns that made me feel like we were going in circles. I started to think that we were lost until she suddenly stopped. She brought the cage level with her head." All right, the only way to Sera's room is through here, we just have to get past this hallway." She almost tiptoed through the hallway probably thinking she was being quiet.

This hallway was empty except for a lone door that had the text "War" along it. Behind the door screams of anger could be heard that gave the impression that the very door was shaking. This made Alicia tremble and in turn I did the same. She tiptoed faster and I mentally cheered for her to go faster. I knew exactly who was behind those doors.

*Bang!

The door slammed open giving Alicia and me a heart attack, who stood in the doorway made both of our conditions worse. Hayner War, a truly frightening man that was the facilitator (or dictator) of this lab. He was bald other than a white Vandyke of facial hair. He is the most feared man in this entire facility and because of that the most respected, as well. He looms the threat of death over failure, since he believes in recreation over repair.

"Incompetent wastes of life can't simply tell me whether or not the damn thing works." Hayner grumbled with his face completely red and grinding his teeth. "But that's fine!" He yelled out popping his knuckles and neck. "I'll take matters into my own hands!"

His expression softened at the sight of us and he closed the distance between us. "Ah Miss Alicia, thank you so much! You've brought me X-013. I was honestly going to use X-012 and then have him for the Warrior Project, but this will work just fine. I'm sure his sister will do just as good if not better." He covered the side of his mouth as if about to tell a secret," To tell the truth I plan on having her be a flareon." He flashed a sinister smile and swiftly took the cage with me in it from her. "Keep up the good work and you can expect a promotion in the near future."

He went into his room with me in tow. I extended a paw out for Alicia as the door closed." Was this all a ruse just to mess with me?!" My heart sank and eyes began to water. "I can't believe she went through all that just to do this to me." I saw a glimpse of her as the door closed. Her eyes were filled to the brim with tears as she fell to the floor once more crying out "N-No… "

I couldn't help but feel betrayed although I was confused onto why she put on the charade of being so upset. I grew more worried about what was in store for my sister. Sera always talked about wanting to be a vaporeon and this bastard is going to somehow force her to be a flareon. I never really considered evolution since I figured I was too young for it anyway.

Hayner stopped, placing me on a table and then went through a cabinet throwing out a few items until he found was he was looking for. He straightened himself, facing me and fixing something in his hands. As soon as I caught sight of what was in his hands, my heartbeat raised exponentially as I feared for my life.

He was extracting fluid into a _very _large needle with a smirk on his face. He noticed my anguish and cocked his head, "What's wrong thirteen, you couldn't possibly be afraid of this silly little thing, could you?" I really hate being called a number. I was honestly too fixated on the needle in his hands to care about what he was saying.

Just as I would do in many other similar situations, I started backing up as far as I could. Damnit! Why can't I just phase through things? It would make my life much easier. "N-No… Please don't," I pathetically whimpered out.

Hayner came closer as he shrugged, "Believe it or not, I know how you feel. I may be the lead researcher here, but I am deathly afraid of needles, especially with one of such a scale. I mean look at this!" He exclaimed thrusting the needle into the air and swiping at the area around him.

He chuckled, drawing his attention back to me, "You know, I don't believe I will be able to go through with this. I just don't have the stomach for it." He said this in a strange tone. My eyes lit up as hope shimmered through my being.

"It's too bad that I have to do it anyway. I do have an idea that might help though." Hayner blocked his eyesight with his hand and my newfound hope shattered. "Oh arceus no…" I begged. Hayner grinned like a madman as he warned, "You might not want to move, after all who knows where I might jab this thing."

I was shaking with so much fear that the cage, itself was rattling. He stabbed at me hitting the table next to the cage. Hayner peeked in between his fingers before saying, "Whoops, I missed… Oh well, let's give that another go shall we."

He's going to kill me with a giant needle. I faced the floor and closed my eyes to pray that I would be able to see Sera and Mom again. I also prayed that if I really have to die, that it would be quick and maybe even painless.

My head shot up and my mouth opened in a silent scream as I felt the sharp pain shoot through my shoulder. I opened my eyes to see Hayner remove the needle from me. "Good night," He whispered with a smile plastered to his face.

The pain in my shoulder eccentrically started to numb; however, It didn't stop there. I slumped down, no longer able to keep myself upright. My eyes started to droop and my vision blurred until I was out like a light.

The first thing I noticed when I woke up was that I no longer felt the ground beneath me. My head ached as I slowly opened my eyes, only to quickly shut them once more due to a strange liquid rapidly flowing into them. My memories started to come back of what happened just previously and I quickly grew worried. "Oh no… Please let my shoulder be okay." I hoped to myself.

After a few seconds of mentally preparing myself I finally tried to open my eyes again. At first it was uncomfortable and I could only squint, my sight being only a blur. This lasted for almost a minute until I finally drawled enough courage to open my eyes enough to clear up my vision. Even if it was only a little, it still made a difference.

I could see that I was suspended inside some sort of tank that was filled with a fluid that appeared to be water. After a taste I was quickly corrected as I gagged. What can I say, I had to try. I haven't had water in what seemed like forever. This brought up the question of how am I able to breathe. I decided to think about it later and examined my surroundings.

In front of the tank was Hayner standing at a podium which faced a gargantuan crowd of people, all wearing white lab coats. Seriously what is with them and the color white! Hayner appeared to be shouting toward the crowd. I couldn't hear anything except for distorted chatter of whatever he was saying. He pumped his fist into the air and the effect was instantaneous the entire crowd cheered doing the same that he had done. Hayner then looked at me with a hand out as if he were presenting me which he probably was.

Pain exploded throughout my core and my sight was clouded by a bright light. This didn't bother me much since I was more worried by the mass amount of pain I was now screaming and writhing in. I couldn't scream well underwater but it felt like I was and I wasn't sure how much more my jaw could take. The closest I could get to describing it was a thousand hot needles stabbing into my flesh multiplied by ten. Then suddenly all pain disappeared not just that though, all my feeling was numbed. I actually felt at peace.

"D-Did I die" I thought to myself. My peace was disturbed as a violent shock exploded on my chest. The pain was astronomical but nothing compared to a few moments ago. "Damnit Kain if thirteen dies, it's your ass. After all I've been wanting to open the Pokegen experiment again," that familiar daunting voice said. I didn't have time to think about what I heard because the shock hit me again and my eyes shot open as I lurched forward.

My sense of smell was bombarded with that of rubbing alcohol and singed fur. I seemed to be on another table with three people around me. One had a surgical mask and I figured he was a doctor, as the other two were conversing, being Hayner and a taller man with short blonde hair, who I assumed to be Kain. The one with a mask on was holding two square-like objects in his hands. I looked at my chest to see square shaped burns in my fur I jumped in surprise.

All my fur was now silver; however, that wasn't all, my body was larger and my tail was longer and forked near the end. The doctor grabbed my throat with a gloved hand I made no move, in fear of what he was doing. He then pushed two of his fingers up against my neck and I figured out what he was doing. He moved his hand to other places and I moved my attention to the others.

Hayner had his hands in his pockets as Kain held up a clipboard writing something. "All right then Kain, what is the diagnosis?"

Without looking up, He answered "X-013 is stable once more and the experiment was almost a complete success."

Hayner crossed his arms and looked at him incredulously "And what do you mean by almost?"

Kain fumbled with his writing utensil for a few seconds before nervously saying, "Despite the time being late at night, the evolution changed him into an espeon instead of the desired umbreon you planned for and th-"

Hayner rolled his eyes and interrupted him "You are aware that I have a set of completely functional eyes, right?" He gestured towards me before continuing, "And that's fine, I mean I may not be very favorable toward the psychic type as a whole, but the point of it was to induce an evolution that normally would need happiness without that factor. So I believe it's a success."

Kain grew unnerved trying to keep his composure, he scratched the back of his neck and seemed to be very interested in the wall behind Hayner. "Well sir, there is also a few other notable differentiations between X-013 and a normal espeon. It could be due to his foreign situation considering his parents, or maybe even a side effect from the experiment."

Hayner sighed before yelling, "Spit it out, already!" with a considerable amount of impatience in his voice. Both Kain and I jumped, the doctor grabbed me before tapping a wooden depressor against my tongue making me open my mouth widely with much more force than was needed My eyes flicked over to the other two once more.

Kain took a deep breath before saying rather quickly, "X-013's fur seems to have changed to silver instead of the normal pink, it also appears that his bones and skull have the thickness and strength an umbreon would have."

Hayner raised an eyebrow as his expression changed from impatience to that of surprise, "We haven't done any examination x-rays yet, how do you already know that?"

Kain stared at Hayner for a long moment in confusion, "Sir… You designed the machine to take x-rays during and after the testing"

Hayner snapped his fingers, "Of course! I remember that now. "He chuckled before continuing."Perhaps the stress is going to my head."

Kain shook his head feverishly, "Sir, what do you want to do about these defects?"

Hayner rolled his eyes before responding, "What do you want me to do?! All you've told me are improvements in my eyes. Despite hating the man, he was saying exactly how I felt about the side effects. The doctor removed his hands from me and started writing his results on a clipboard.

Kain frowned, "This is all we know so far; however, there may be other flaws that have yet to show themselves"

Hayner grunted before saying, "Fine, he can have a break in his tests for a week or two, he has a scheduled visit with twelve and his mother tomorrow, anyway."

Kain bowed his head, "As you wish, sir"

Hayner started to walk off, waving them off as he said, "Don't act like this was what I wanted, Kain."

Said scientist put me into the cage that seemed much smaller than it used to be and walked back to my room. After a few minutes of unbearable silence we finally reached my door. Kain walked inside and immediately let me out of the cage. He crouched down and scratched me on the head, "I am so sorry for what you had to go through" He said it quietly, probably trying to comfort me. I seem to be getting told that a lot recently.

I walked to my spot while simultaneously falling on my face a few times. I wasn't used to this body at all. I heard a sigh behind me and saw Kain leave with his head drooping. I faced the wall and closed my eyes quickly realizing just how tired I really was and fell asleep, hoping that tomorrow could be a better day…

**AN: Well… this is my first chapter of my first story so yea. I was originally going to post this when I got my own laptop, but I finally got the chance on a friend's and decided to do it anyway. Sadly, it's going to be a while before I update again so I am going to go ahead and apologize. I plan on getting one on Christmas if I'm lucky. I hope I didn't put too much information at the beginning, and that some of the characters aren't too corny. This story is going to contain gore and offensive language if you hadn't noticed already. And once again I am sorry for being unable to update for a while to anyone who is interested in this story**


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